Posts Tagged ‘Church’
SysTheo: Ekklesia – Doctrine of the Church; Angelology
April 5, 2012 | 
Author Attached are the slidepacks for Ecclesiology and Angelology. Also, go to this link to read 12 Essays from the 9 Marks website:
http://www.9marks.org/answers-for-church-members/
Also:
Posted in Cary Christian School, Lessons Repository | 
Tags: 9 marks, Angelology, Christ, Church, Deacons, Demons, devil, Ecclesiology, Elders, Lucifer, Satan | 
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River Valley Ranch: What’s Your Vantage Point?
I was privileged to be a part of a ministry to Middle and High-Schoolers this past weekend at River Valley Ranch in upstate Maryland, near the border of Pennsylvania. It was a pretty intense weekend called “Winter Meltdown.” It is a GGRREEAATTT weekend retreat for both the students AND the leaders and volunteers. The RVR staff takes care of everything so they can achieve their goal, which is
to provide a place free from the distractions of everyday life, where students and leaders can focus on God and build meaningful relationships with each other.
From my perspective, they did just that. I am posting my slide packs here, so if any of the youth leaders want to refer back to these, they can. Use everything at will!
If anyone needs a great camp to go to for any of several reasons, RVR is the place to be!
Posted in "Ruminations", Lessons Repository | Tags: Camp, Church, High School, Middle School, Perspective, River Valley Ranch, RVR, Sovereign Christ Church, Vantage Point, Winter Meltdown, Youth | No Comments »
The Western Church is a Stepford Wife
Maybe you don’t know the premise of the story . . .
Essentially a community is designed and populated with robotic wives – perfect robotic wives, so their husbands can do what ever they want without the trappings of spousal accountability, commitment, humility, etc. It is: I create a world that appears to be like the real world, yet under the surface it is artificial . . . maybe sinister.
Remember that idolatry is really self-worship. That is, when one carves an idol, names the idol, places the idol and then decides (without the input of the idol, I might add) how the idol is to be worshipped – and yes, I’m talking about pseudo-pagan/animistic polity here – at the end of the day, who’s Creator; who’s Sovereign; who’s the real God? For the idolators, it’s themselves.
Let me lob another kernal into the popper before I get to the punch-line. It was C.S. Lewis in his The Four Loves, I think, that remarked in regards to love, that at the moment it becomes your god, it becomes your devil.
Now, with those two ideas in the hopper, let’s get back to the original. The church is messy and sometimes a mess. Why? What’s the problem? People.
Of course, they’re (we’re) the point also.
Posted in "Ruminations", Paradigm Shift, Sovereign Christ Church | Tags: Church, Churchianity, Jesus, Pride | 1 Comment »
The most subtle sin . . . self.
It was a phrase that just popped out today during our friends of the church plant meeting – “We worship the way we worship Jesus more than we just worship Jesus.”
If we look around we see it all the time – great emphasis on style, little emphasis on content. Even when we have solid content, the way that it is presented eclipses the message. I remember being at the T4G conference last year and when John Piper spoke, I literally thought the two guys directly in front of me were going to come out of their skin. The were shaking first at his appearance and then about every 30 seconds one would say to the other, “Hear how he said that? He’s awesome!” - Or some derivative of the like.
“Hear how he said that” . . .
This is Way Worship, not even real worship – not even real idolatry. It’s a cheat.
Posted in Lyrical Theology, Paradigm Shift, Sovereign Christ Church | Tags: Church, Churchianity, Lecrae, Piper, Worship | No Comments »